Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council (PDREC)

Celebrating diversity across our community

Plymouth is a partner of Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council (PDREC), an independent and impartial registered charity working across Plymouth, Exeter and Devon, to promote equality of opportunity and eliminate racial discrimination.

Connect, engage and empower communities through partnership

The Plymouth Fairness Commission
recommended that the city engage in a consolidated effort to generate
leadership on tackling discrimination in all its forms in the city and Plymouth
University's work with PDREC is a response to that recommendation.

The benefits derived through working together for our students, staff and community include: providing support
for staff and students; assisting with providing links into hard to reach
communities and access into schools through project work;
supporting with community consultancy in the review of the equality scheme; and general race awareness training for harassment advisors to
provide understanding of current local issues.

The Respect Festival

The Respect Festival,
organised by the PDREC, is the biggest celebration of diversity in the South
West, attracting over 25,000 people each year. It enables people to come
together in a safe space, free from oppression and fear, to celebrate the
diverse cultural heritage of our city.

The festival has been redressing the balance of
negative and fearful perceptions about Plymouth's Black and Minority Ethnic
(BME) communities since 1998, and growing in stature year-on-year. In 2014 and
2015 the University was privileged to host Respect Festival on campus.